Impossible to Forget(48)

‘They are amazing,’ she replied. ‘Romany is so gorgeous. She’s totally perfect. A little gem. And Angie is positively buzzing although she’s exhausted. Tiger was there too. He’s staying at Angie’s for a couple of weeks before he goes away again. It’s such a shame you weren’t there. But maybe the four of us can get together when Angie gets home. I think they’re going to discharge her tomorrow or Monday.’

‘Yes,’ said Leon, ‘that would be great,’ but something about the way he said it told Maggie that it wouldn’t happen.



Angie and Romany were discharged the following Monday and Maggie drove across York to the hospital to pick them up. Angie had said that there was no need to bother and that she would get a taxi, but Maggie wouldn’t have put it past her to save the fare and try to walk with the baby on her shoulder.

Of course, Angie had no car seat, and no need for one as she had no car, and so Maggie, assuming that this might be the first of many such trips, took a detour to Mothercare. After a thorough examination of the very many types of car seat that were available, she decided to buy one that came with a carry cot and pushchair. These items, however, turned out to be extraordinarily complicated and Maggie had to concentrate hard as the shop assistant explained the many working parts and how they all slotted together.

‘It’s a gift,’ Maggie explained when the assistant was clearly confused by the lack of either a bump or a baby. ‘For a friend,’ she added unnecessarily.

‘Lucky friend,’ said the assistant, her eyes flicking to the price tag.

Maggie also bought washable nappies and liners, a bucket to store them in, a bumper box of disposable nappies in case Angie had a change of heart, a changing mat, some tiny vests and babygros, a set of bedding for the carrycot and a little green elephant in plush velvet that was so soft that she had to fight the urge to tickle her lips with it. The total bill was eye-watering, but Maggie didn’t mind. She had enough money, and Angie would have bought nothing in readiness. It would be a pleasure to give her the items and make a useful contribution to the new household.

When she arrived at the hospital to pick Angie up, she found her dressed and ready to leave, although she had brought so little with her that it was hard to tell if she had packed up or not. She was just staring at the sleeping Romany, confounded, as if she couldn’t really believe that she was real, and when she looked up, Maggie could see her eyes glistening.

Maggie lifted the car seat up high, as if it were a flag seized in battle.

‘All set?’ she asked.

‘What’s that?’ asked Angie, looking at the seat in confusion.

‘My new car seat,’ said Maggie, ‘which I am going to use to transport your baby back to your flat. Or were you going to let her roll around on the back seat?’

‘I was just going to hold her,’ said Angie, but the midwife who was stripping the bed shook her head.

‘You can’t do that, Angie. It’s against the law,’ she said. ‘And anyway, we wouldn’t let you leave if you didn’t have a suitable car seat for Baby.’

Angie shook her head as if she was astounded at the bureaucracy of it all, but she smiled gratefully at Maggie.

‘Is there ever anything that you don’t think of?’ she asked her.

‘Nope,’ replied Maggie. ‘Right, do you want to get her in it?’

Angie picked the sleeping Romany up out of the bassinet. The baby flailed her arms about and threw her tiny head from side to side in protest, but she didn’t open her eyes. Angie settled her into the seat and Maggie showed her how the straps fastened, and then the little group of three left the maternity wing.

‘I bet they think you’re my girlfriend,’ said Angie, and Maggie rolled her eyes.

Maggie’s convertible car had almost no boot space and so her purchases were crammed into the back seat, leaving very little room for Angie to sit, but somehow, they managed to squeeze in, Angie lowering herself into the seat gingerly.

‘What is all this crap?’ Angie asked, flapping a hand at the plastic bags and boxes. ‘Your car’s never a mess.’

‘All this crap, as you so delightfully put it,’ replied Maggie in a mock arched tone, ‘is my gift to Romany to celebrate the occasion of her birth.’

Angie looked more carefully then, peering into each bag in turn and then finally looking at the huge cardboard box containing the ‘travel system’.

‘Oh my God, Mags. This lot must have cost a fortune.’

‘Well, Romany must be worth it,’ replied Maggie.

There would be no gushing expressions of gratitude, she knew that, and that wasn’t why she had been so generous. The single, ‘Thanks, Mags,’ that she heard coming from the back of the car was all she needed.

‘You’re welcome,’ was her simple reply.

They arrived back at Angie’s flat, a raggle-taggle bunch with Angie carrying the lighter of the plastic bags of booty and Maggie bearing Romany in the car seat before her like a crown on a velvet cushion. As soon as the key was in the door, Tiger appeared, eager as a puppy to be involved in some as-yet-unknown way.

Maggie chucked him the car keys. ‘Go and bring the rest of the stuff in, would you please?’ she asked him. ‘And don’t forget to lock it afterwards,’ she was compelled to add, but then wished she hadn’t.